


Avengers: The Unusual Doctor

by Whovian101



Category: Doctor Who, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-18 12:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16118498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whovian101/pseuds/Whovian101
Summary: After losing Donna, the TARDIS decides to take the Doctor to America, more specifically, to New York. SHIELD catches wind of the mysterious arrival, and the Avengers decide to take him in to make sure he's not a threat. But when Thor has heard of the Doctor's destruction of Gallifrey, the Doctor must find a way to escape the angry strangle-hold Thor has around him.





	1. Prologue

The Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS, not daring to look back on the Noble household. Oh, Donna. The blue door shut behind him and he heard the TARDIS groan sadly, she had been becoming quite fond of the most recent companion. Much like Rose, the TARDIS was quite fond of Donna’s fierce personality. Trying to keep the memories of Rose out of his head, the Doctor stood solemnly at the console as they entered the vortex. “Looks like it’s just the two of us again, old girl.” The Doctor said stroking the TARDIS, who hummed affectionately in response. “Let’s take a holiday.” The Doctor said, without a companion on board, he didn’t bother try to grin, “How about we visit King Helpong? Or Billofos, boy did his wife know how to throw a party. The TARDIS hummed, but not in agreement like the Doctor expected, but more the way she did whenever she had a mischievous idea. The TARDIS started shaking as they dematerialized from the vortex they had just arrived in.

* * *

 

Tony Stark sat in his lab, fiddling with the new Ironman suit he was working on, when there was a loud bang as the door was pushed open and Nick Fury came marching in. “Stark, we’ve got a possible alien invasion on our hands and I need you, Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton to deal with it.” Tony raised an eyebrow, but before he could make a clever quip, Nick Fury Just snapped, “Just get it done.” Tony exchanged a look with Bruce Banner, who also happened to be in the lab at the time,

“What’s up his ass?”

 

Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint made their way to the scene. There was a blue telephone box in an alley. Not exactly what he had expected. Clint perched upon a nearby rooftop, his bow raised and a tranquilizer arrow at the ready. Natasha was around the corner, ready to strike at a moments notice. Steve was playing civilian, and Tony, well, Tony was watching curiously from afar. As the doors opened, they held their breaths, unsure of what would emerge. What came out, was not what any of them expected.


	2. A Mysterious Arrival

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor pushed the door open, stepping out, he found himself almost face to face with a blond muscular man. “Er, hello?” The Doctor said, trying to place the face, as it did look familiar for some reason. Taking in his surroundings, he continued, “Looks, 21st century, America, I usually tend to land around England and Scotland, though I suppose the Americas never hurt anyone, well, yes they did, but not right now, well – anyway, where are we, New York?” The man looked almost taken aback by the Doctor, then composed himself, and said,

“Sir, you need to come with me.”

“Sir?” The Doctor rolled his eyes, “What’s with all you and your formalities. Just call me the Doctor, and I’m afraid I can’t come with you, you see, I’ve got much to do, places to see, people to meet, the Great King of Bulocres for example, now, did _he_ know how to have a good time, I owe him a favor, maybe I should give him a social call, I don’t really do social calls, if I start, I ought to go visit –”

“Sir – Doctor – if you will not come peacefully, we will need to take you by force.”

“That’s why I don’t visit America!” The Doctor said, smashing his hand against his forehead, “It’s the violence, I mean, everyone else has got their fair share of violence, but you lot are as trigger happy as a Jespacore in a Phascorisoli.”  
“What?”

“Just give me the signal and I’ll tranq him.” Came a voice from the man’s ear, undoubtedly an earpiece.

“Oh, you might not want to do that.” The Doctor said, taking a step back, his hand on the TARDIS door. Suddenly, the man’s hand jumped to his earpiece, and the Doctor felt a prick in the back of his neck.

* * *

 

The alien’s hand flew to the back of its neck as Clint’s arrow hit with insane accuracy. The alien opened its mouth as if to say something, but its eyes rolled back into its head and fell unconscious on the ground. “How could it hear me?” Clint asked as he emerged from his perch,

“I don’t know,” Steve said, then stared down at the alien at the ground, “It looks so human.” The observation silenced the group,

“Maybe Thor will know what it is.” Clint said thoughtfully,

“Come on, let’s get him back to Fury.” Tony said, and the four avengers, Steve carrying the alien, returned to the tower.


	3. The Doctor's Prison

The Doctor opened his eyes. He felt cold floor. Something wasn’t right. He had woken up, but he didn’t feel rested nor had he been plagued with nightmares. Forcing his heavy eyes open, he found himself in a cell. He pushed himself off the ground and, with some effort, into a sitting position. It wasn’t a traditional Earth cell, as he had been in quite a few of those, this one was high-tech, it looked to be built for something much stronger than he. It was surrounded by clear glass, though he doubted it could be shattered. It was a circle, no part of it was hidden from the outside, though he was pleased to find the glass was two-way. He found he was no longer wearing his trenchcoat, so it must have been removed, but his brown pinstripe suit had been left on. Suddenly, a door opened and a tall, bald, dark man with an eyepatch entered, his face cold and calculating. He was accompanied by the blond man from before, as well as a middle-age looking man, gray beginning to streak his black hair, a tall, skinny, muscular woman with short red hair, a young, rather chiseled young man, and who could have only been one man,

“Tony Stark!” The Doctor said,

“How do you know me?” Tony demanded,

“Well, I’ve been around a bit, you’re name’s got pretty far.”

“Stop, I’m blushing.” Tony said, smirking,

“And you are –” The Doctor looked at the other man with the gray,

“Bruce Banner.” The man said, the Doctor smacked his forehead,

“Of course! I am so thick! You’re brilliant, you are!”

“What?” Bruce looked bewildered,

“Your work on gamma radiation is incredible. I’d call you a genius but I’m in the room.”

“I – uh – thanks.” Bruce said, clearly not being able to process the fact that an alien would know who _he_ was.

“You must be Natasha Romanoff,” The Doctor pointed to the red headed woman, “And you’re Clint Barton,” he pointed to the younger man, then rounded on the blond man, “And you must be the infamous Captain America!” The Doctor turned to the blond man,

“Uh, yeah.” Steve Rogers looked confused,

“And who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor.” The Doctor said,

“Doctor of what?” Bruce asked curiously,

“Just the Doctor.” The Doctor said, smiling,

“What are you?” Natasha asked, clearly trying to cut to the point,

“Oh, you wouldn’t know if I told you,” the Doctor laughed,

“Are you Asgardian?” Clint asked,

“Asgardian? No? Why?”

“Our friend’s Asgardian,” Tony said, waving his hand, “Now, what are you?”

“I told you, you won’t have heard of me.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Natasha said. The Doctor shrugged,

“I’m a Time Lord.”

“Bit pompous.” Tony said with a smirk,  
“Yeah, they were a bit.” The Doctor grinned,

“Were?” Natasha asked,

“Yeah, well, now that I think about it, your Asgardian friend might know me, what’s his name? I know I met Aegir and Bor…”

“Well, I don’t know about any Aegir or Bor, but our friend is Thor.” Steve said,

“Oh! Thor! Brilliant! I haven’t met him yet but I’ve heard loads. Always intended to meet Odin, never got the chance, been a bit distracted I suppose…”

“I’ve already alerted Thor,” Fury said, “He should be here by this evening. He will determine if you are a threat or not.” The Doctor grinned,

“Oh, I’m not threat, unless you make me mad of course.”

“What makes you mad?” Natasha asked,

“Oh, you know, genocide, hurting children, stuff like that, but I shouldn’t be too concerned about any of you, you’re heros.”

“Thor will determine that.” Fury said, and the six of them exited the room.


	4. Thor's Decision

The Doctor was left alone for the next few hours, no one really thought he seemed all that evil, he was clearly no Loki, but Thor would give the final say and then he would return from wherever he came from. With a strike of lightning, Thor arrived at the tower. “Hello, man of iron!” Thor said, approaching Tony, “I was told you had an alien under your watch.”

“Yeah, it’s right through here,” Clint said, leading the Asgardian into the room, “Calls itself the Doctor,”

“Doctor?” Thor growled, “Of course it is him behind all of this.”

“You know who this is?” Steve asked,  
“We have never met,” Thor said, “But even on Asgard we have heard of the Doctor.”

“The Doctor can hear you.” The Doctor said,

“Silence!” Thor shouted, then turned back to the others, “The Doctor is a Time Lord, he is known to wreak havoc wherever he goes. He is said to have a golden tongue and lures and seduces children to his ship and flies away, the children never to be seen again, he is a dangerous renegade, commits genocide, he leaves nothing behind but a trail of dust and blood. Don’t listen to a thing this monster tell you, as he is a master of deception.” Steve looked at the murderer, expecting maybe an angry glare at the truth, or a manipulative grin like the one Loki had worn, but instead, he looked sad, he attempted a weak smile,

“Well, I think that’s a _little_ exaggerated, but stories often do that, not your fault I should think –”

“Silence!” Thor shouted again, “Do not let him speak and trick you with his sorcery, as that will be the last you will ever know.” Steve glared at the murderer, angry he had tried to deceive him. It was Bruce who broke the tense silence,

“What should we do with him?”

* * *

 

The Doctor looked around at the Avengers who were glaring at him acusitorily, his fate rested in their hands. “We should kill him.” Natasha said emotionlessly,

“Impossible.” Thor rumbled, “Time Lords are immortal beings.” The Doctor almost grinned, at least the Time Lords managed to keep some secrets.

“We can’t keep him here forever.” Tony said,

“I shall take this criminal to Asgard, they will know how to rid the universe of him.”

“I –”

“SILENCE!” Thor thundered, rounding on the Doctor, “You will be silent until you are told to speak. We will not be deceived by your tricks.”

“And why would I do that?” The Doctor asked, “Maybe if you asked politely people would listen to you every once in a while, but I have no reason to listen to you.” Thor raised his hammer,

“The next time you speak, I will break each of your limbs –”

“Oh!” The Doctor jumped up from his seated position on the floor, “Are we doing torture now? I always do love me some torture, but no brands, brands make me scream.”

“We’re not going to torture you.” Steve said,

“Oh,” The Doctor jumped back down onto the floor, “I was almost looking forward to the not-brands, you shouldn’t get someone’s hopes up like that.” The team looked completely speechless, except for Natasha, whose face was as unreadable as ever.

“You can’t take him away yet,” Fury said, “We need to know what he’s planning.”

“Quite right,” The Doctor grinned, “A nice holiday, somewhere sunny, tropical, and with killer robots, I was thinking somewhere along the Oram Calypso Galaxy, but I must have overshot by a few hundred gigaparsecs, and er, a couple billion years.”

“How do you overshoot by time?” Tony asked, his interest peaking, “are you telling me that you…”

“Travel through time and space, yes.” The Doctor grinned, “I could show you sometime.”

“He goes from planet to planet burning civilizations.” Thor said, “There is no doubt he plans to destroy this one.”

“What would I do that for?” The Doctor asked innocently,

“Fun.” Thor spat the foul word with such distaste that the Doctor recoiled,

“I would never do such a thing,” He said, “Earth is like a home to me.” Thor bristled and moved closer to the layer of thick glass that rested between them,

“But we both know what you did to your last home, and I won’t let you do it to this one.”


	5. An Interaction with Tony Stark

The alien looked speechless, there was hurt in its eyes that exceeded any a mortal man could ever hold. “What happened?” Steve asked, “What happened to your home?”

“I –” The creature looked properly shaken up now, “There was nothing else I could do, I - I had to stop the war.”

“By killing your own species.” Thor said, “Genocide. Women, _children_.” The monster had the audacity to open its mouth, but it looked speechless, as if it didn’t know what to say. Steve looked at it,

“He’s not lying.” He said, “Thor’s telling the truth. I can see it in your eyes. You destroyed your own planet. You know you deserve to be behind this glass.” Steve honestly expected a spark of overconfidence, maybe a snarky response, but the criminal simply dropped his gaze. “What are you planning?” Steve demanded, but the murderer said nothing.

“We’ll get it out of you eventually.” Fury promised, then turned back to the team, “Stay away from the alien, we don’t want any more possessions on our hands.” There was a cumulative nod and the team dispersed.

Tony Stark was not one to follow rules, so the moment Fury exited the room, he stepped in and approached the murderous alien. Picking up a small metal stick he had found in the pocket of its trenchcoat. It had been immediately obvious that these said pockets could hold much more than they should, “So, _Doctor_.” The alien looked up, his eyes brewing with emotion, “What’s this?” He lifted the metal device, and the murderer’s eye lit up, clearly it was some sort of weapon.

“My Sonic Screwdriver!” It jumped up, “Can I have it back now?”

“What is it?” Tony asked, taken aback, “What kind of weapon is it?”

“Weapon?” The question was posed as if it was the most preposterous thing in the world, “I don’t carry weapons.”

“Then what is it?”

“My Sonic Screwdriver.” It repeated, “Opens doors and stuff, doesn’t work on wood though, I should really make a wood setting sometime, there are a few jams where that _really_ could have helped me out, but –”

“How does it work?” Tony looked eagerly at this ‘Sonic Screwdriver,’

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I really would.”

“Trust me, it would go way over your head.”

“Prove it.” Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, the Doctor started babbling in the most beautiful, musical language Tony had ever heard.

“What language is that, then?” Tony asked, the alien quirked his head,

“Whatever do you mean?”

“The language you were just speaking in?” Tony said,

“Oh!” The Doctor smacked his head, “You see, there’s no words in your language for the kind of stuff I’m talking about.” Tony twirled the device between his fingers,

“Where can I get one?”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Tony Stark, massive weapons manufacturer, I don’t think so.” Tony narrowed his eyes,

“I don’t do that anymore.”

“The damage has already been done.” Tony glared at the alien, then turned his back, “Fine.”


	6. Interrogation

The Doctor sat in his cell in silence, as no one else was in the room. His mind was racing with thoughts and figures on how to get out of his prison. Suddenly, Steve walked in. “Hello!” The Doctor said with false enthusiasm,

“I can’t talk to you.” Steve said,

“Why not?” Steve didn’t reply, “Oh, because you think I’m a mass murderer who will what did he say, seduce you? Seducing isn't really my style to be honest –”

“ _Please_ don’t talk to me.” Steve said,

“Oh, see, now, you’re polite. Old eye-patch wasn’t so polite, neither was Thor to think of it, you know, I really expected him to like me, thought the Asgardians still owed me a few favors, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes.”  
“That’s what happens when you commit genocide.” Steve said, the Doctor winced as if he’d been slapped,

“You wouldn’t understand.” Steve turned away and said nothing more.

It was midnight when Thor walked in, the Doctor hadn’t fallen asleep, as he knew he would be plagued with nightmares if he did. Thor walked over, and stared angrily at the him. “You are wanted in the interrogation room, Murder of Gallifrey.” The Doctor was bothered by the name, but didn’t address it, instead, he jumped up and said,

“Finally, I thought we’d be doing the not-brands sometime, I know you said we wouldn’t be, but I don’t think old eye-patch likes me as much as you do, which is not at all.”

“Uh, we’re not going to torture you.” Steve said, looking at Thor as he glared angrily at the Doctor, “Right?” Thor didn’t respond, but opened the prison, slapping handcuffs on the Doctor’s wrists. They walked silently into the interrogation room. It was very traditional, cement walls, cement floors, metal locked door, one way glass, and a table in the middle. Thor handcuffed him to the table. The Doctor was quite skilled at lock-picking, but decided this wasn’t the best time to show off this talent. Natasha walked in alongside Tony.

“Ah!” The Doctor said, “Finally, so, who’s good cop and who’s bad cop?”

“Shut up.” Natasha said, “Neither of us are playing.”

“Ah, so you’re bad cop then, so you must be good cop.” Tony grinned as Nasha glared at him,

“This is in interrogation, so you’d better tell us what we need to know.”

“Yes, well, that’s not going to happen, so there’s no point in that, and because of the fact that I could just leave whenever I want, I wouldn’t waste time on it.”

“What do you mean you could leave anytime you want?” Natasha demanded,

“Well, I’m from the most advanced civilization in the universe, and I’ve been traveling through time and space for over nine hundred years, so yeah, I can pick a lock.”

“You’re nine hundred years old?” Tony asked, awed,

“Yes, well, somewhere around there I should think, after you reach a certain age, you stop counting.”

“How long do you live until?” Natasha asked, clearly prying for information,

“Well, it varies, by Time Lord, depending on how old they die at each time.”

“What do you mean, _each time_?”

“Well, we’ve got this little trick, regeneration, when we’re about to die we just regenerate our entire bodies.”

“How many times can you do that for?”

“Fifteen hundred and thirty two.”

“What?” Tony said, the Doctor laughed,

“Not really. Why would I tell you all?”

“Look, we really need you to cooperate here,” Natasha said threateningly,

“Oh, yes, I should have warned you before, I’m not very cooperative.” The Doctor said,

“We’ll give you hell.” Natasha warned,

“Hand it over.”

* * *

 

A frustrated Natasha went storming off into her room, and Tony began his shift watching the alien. “So, nine hundred is pretty impressive.” Tony said, the alien just shrugged,

“You humans are so nosy.” Tony laughed,

“Yeah, gotta love us though.” The Doctor laughed,

“Not everyone seems to think I do.” Tony hesitated, but said nothing.

The next four days went rather systematically, the mornings they would give the alien something to eat, which it would usually decline. They would take it in for interrogation, where it would not cooperate, they would threaten it, yet release it back to its cell. Natasha, Steve, Bruce, Clint, Thor, and Tony would take shifts watching the alien until the evening where they would present it with more declined food, take it into interrogation again, then return it and watch it sleep, except, it never seemed to sleep. Finally, the Avengers gathered together to discuss. “What’s it planning?” Natasha said as they all sat down,

“He doesn’t seem to be planning anything…” Tony said slowly,

“Why isn’t it eating?” Steve wondered aloud,

“He’s not sleeping either.” Tony said,

“Maybe it just doesn’t need sleep or food?” Bruce said,

“You should talk to him, Bruce, he seems to be quite fond of you, plus, he’s really interesting to talk to.”

“Do not be deceived by his tongue of treachery.” Thor said warningly,

“He just doesn’t seem all that bad…” Steve said, “Now that I think of it, he hasn’t made a single threat or a move to escape, even though he’s made it obvious that he could escape the interrogation room if he wanted.”

“Maybe we should try to get into his ship.” Bruce suggested, “Maybe that will give us the answers we need.”


	7. The Attempt on the TARDIS

When the Doctor was taken in for the next interrogation, he found Tony looking more eager than ever, and Natasha, well, still as emotionless as the first day he met her. “So, you ship,” The moment the words left Tony’s mouth, the Doctor shut him down,

“Leave her alone.”

“Her?” Natasha asked,

“Yes, _her_ , now leave her alone.”

“Sorry, we can’t do that.” Tony said, “But I think it’ll be much easier on both of us if you just tell us how to get in.” The Doctor scoffed,

“I’d never let you in.”

“Fine, we’ll get in anyway.” Natasha said, walking away, the Doctor scoffed again,

“Good luck with that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Natasha asked,

“You’ll never get in.” The Doctor laughed,

“We’ve got some of the best technology in the world, we’ll find a way.” Tony said,

“Well, I come from the most technologically advanced civilization in the universe. I’d like to see you try.” Tony raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

Half an hour later, Tony returned to the Doctor’s cell alone, the Doctor was slumped against the wall, exhaustion was setting in, it had been weeks since he’d last slept, but he couldn’t sleep, not here, not now. He had to keep himself awake. “So, what can I do to get in?” Tony asked,

“Well, you could free me, that might be good.”

“Sorry, can’t do that.”

“I’ll show you how to get in, all you have to do is bring me with you, see, she won’t let anyone else in.” Tony seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Deal.” Tony opened the cell door and walked over to the Doctor. The Doctor easily nicked his Sonic Screwdriver from Tony’s pocket as he was distracted with another door opening.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Steve Rogers asked,

“Ooh, watch your language, Capsicle.” Tony teased,

“What are you doing with him?” Steve demanded, ignoring Tony’s jest,

“He’s going to show me his ship.” Tony said proudly,

“No, we can’t do that.” Steve said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“But he was going to show me his ship!” Tony said excitedly,

“We can’t let him out.”

“Fine.” Tony pouted and locked the Doctor back in his cell, then Steve dragged Tony out of the room, no doubt to lecture Tony on being a responsible guard. The Doctor smiled to himself, oh humans, they never get boring.

* * *

 

After the incident with Tony, the Avengers decided to have a meeting on what to do with the murderous criminal they had under their roof. “I still think we should just kill it.” Natasha said emotionlessly,

“As I have already said, it is impossible.” Rumbled Thor,

“Bruce, weren’t you going to ask it why it doesn’t sleep or eat?” Tony asked, walking into the room an hour late,

“Can’t you ever be on time for anything?” Steve asked, exhausted with Tony’s inconsistent appearances to meetings,

“Hey, be happy I came at all.” Tony said, a smile crossing his face,

“Does it need sleep at all?” Bruce asked,

“Probably not.” Tony said, waving it off. Steve kept his opinions to himself, but definitely resolved to ask the alien about it.

That evening, it was Steve’s turn to bring the alien food and watch it. When he walked in, he saw the alien slumped against the wall of his cell. It looked so exhausted, it looked so… human… “So, why don’t you sleep?” Steve asked as he slid in some food for it.

“Who says I need sleep?” It asked,

“Well, you’ve got dark circles under your eyes and, to be honest, you look almost dead” The alien laughed bitterly,

“You know nothing about my species, maybe this is normal for me.”

“But it’s not, so tell me, why aren’t you sleeping, and why aren’t you eating?”

“What’s it matter to you?”

“I –” Steve froze, “I don’t know.”

“Then keep to yourself.” They sat in silence for a while, the alien’s head kept drooping, then he would smack himself in the face just to keep awake. Finally, clearly just to keep himself from falling asleep, the alien doctor asked,

“So, what do you miss most about 20th Century?” Steve thought for a moment,

“There was a girl, Peggy. We were gonna go dancing…” The alien nodded silently. Steve didn’t know why, but he found himself asking, “Do you miss your family?” The alien smiled sadly,

“Yeah… yeah I do.”

“Why did you kill them?” Tears formed in the alien’s eyes,

“I didn’t want to… I had to… I had no choice… They were going to destroy the rest of the universe and I had to stop it…” Tears fell down his face and he finally fell asleep, giving in to the exhaustion. Steve stared at him, that poor alien man. Poor Doctor.


	8. Nightmares

Steve continued to watch the sleeping Doctor for a minute or two, before suddenly, his hand jumped across his body, then, he started thrashing. Steve listened closely and found he could hear mumbling, it got steadily louder until he was screaming. “Please! No! I’m sorry!” The thrashing continued to get worse, and his screaming was more intense. And even through all of that, Steve could see him shaking and shivering. Another scream knocked Steve out of his trance. He jumped up and smashed the call button. In an instant, Thor, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Tony. “What is it that you need, Steven of Rogers?” Thor thundered, Steve wordlessly pointed to the Doctor,

“What’s wrong with him?” Clint asked, staring and the figure in the cage,

“It looks like… no… him…?” Tony whispered,

“What, what does it look like?” Steve asked,

“It looks like he’s having a nightmare…”

“A nightmare?” Clint said, sounding unimpressed,

“A PTSD one from the looks of it.” Confirmed Bruce.

“What should we do?” Natasha asked emotionlessly,

“Let him suffer.” Thor rumbled, “he has much to suffer for. It is well deserved.”

“I think we should wake him up.” Bruce said, ignoring Thor.

“I agree.” Steve said,

“It is a trick.” Thor assured them, Steve turned to face the Asgardian,

“I don’t care if he’s the worst criminal in the universe –”

“He is.” Thor interrupted, but Steve kept going,

“But he’s clearly in distress, and I’m not going to sit down and watch this.” Flicking the switch on the controls, the cell door jumped open and Steve, Bruce, and Tony ran in.

* * *

 

Fire. There was so much fire. Fire everywhere. Everything was burning. “ _Grandfather!_ ” a voice called out through the smoke,

“SUSAN!” The Doctor called back, but he couldn’t move a muscle, “SUSAN!” His poor, sweet, Susan.

“You can’t save her.” _Her_ voice sounded, ringing like a bell, and her scent engulfed all around the Doctor.

“No! I can! I have to!” The Doctor cried out, “Please, there has to be a way!”

“You couldn’t even save _me_.” Rose Tyler said,

“Rose, please, I’m sorry!” Tears ran down the Time Lord’s face as his beautiful Bad Wolf was caught by the flames that had been approaching behind her and she too began to burn. “ROSE! ROSE!” He screamed as the fire closed around her, smoke was surrounding him,

“Grandfather!”

“SUSAN! ROSE!” The smoke was surrounding him and the flames only rose, voices of the past rang out, his friends, his family, his children,

“Doctor!” The screamed, “Doctor! Help us, save us!” But the Doctor couldn’t move. He saw bodies everywhere and the flames only rose, “Doctor!” They chorused, “Doctor! Doctor! Wake up!”

The Doctor gasped, “Yes, what is it? Is everyone alright?”

“You were, uh, you were having a nightmare…” Steve said, clearly taken aback by the outburst of selflessness,

“Yeah, er, yeah, I’m fine.” The Doctor managed to say,

“Anyone with eyes can see that you aren’t.” Steve said bluntly,

“Well, nine hundred years of time and space in my head, lots to think about at night…”

“You were screaming.” Clint said in a tone similar to Steve’s,

“Why’s it matter to you?” The Doctor demanded, getting defensive,

“Because we want to know.” Tony said,

“Let him suffer, it is what he deserves. He will never feel remorse for his acts.”

“You don’t know the guilt I carry with me.” The Doctor spat, “For you to think I have no remorse –”

“How dare you speak to me with such tones!” Thor snarled, “You are worthless. You chose to destroy your own planet –”  
“You weren't there!” The Doctor screamed, and Thor actually took a step back, clearly shocked despite himself. “You don’t know the sacrifices I had to make! It was a war! It was a huge, bloody war! And I was a good soldier! I did the right thing!” And there were tears streaming messily down his cheeks, he screamed through sobs, “It was my family and friends and _my planet_ or you bloody creatures and the universe and I. CHOSE. YOU.” Breathing hard and still sobbing furiously, he spat out, “And you still have the nerve to challenge me and call me worthless when _I made all the sacrifices_! I am the reason you all exist, and I-just-hate-myself.” The Doctor crumpled, leaving the Avengers to lock the door and gather their thoughts of what had just happened and all the alien had just said.


	9. Goodbyes

The next morning, Steve, Tony, and Bruce approached the Doctor’s cell. The Doctor smiled an empty grin, “Ah, here to escort me to Asgard?” He asked,

“Er, no.” Steve said, “We’re just here to visit. And, whereas we’ve been given direct orders not to let you go, we might just have to conveniently open the door and forget to close it.” Bruce grinned and flicked the switch, opening the Doctor’s cell door. Tony grinned,

“Well, I’m going to head to the helipad where the Doctor’s ship is, wouldn’t it be a shame if he were to follow me.” The Doctor grinned and jumped up, following Tony, Steve, and Bruce to the helipad.

“Oh, I missed you.” The Doctor grinned, stroking the TARDIS. She hummed in agreement, and the door clicked open.

“Hey, Doctor!” Bruce called and tossed him back his Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor smiled,

“Would you like to take a look in her?” He asked,

“Hell yeah!” Tony ran over eagerly, followed by Steve and Bruce. The Doctor snapped his fingers and the TARDIS doors opened, Tony ran in, the Doctor laughed, and followed, Steve and Bruce entering as well. The moment the three Avengers spilled in, they were walking around in wonder,

“This is incredible!” Bruce gasped,

“Where can I get one?” Tony asked, but the Doctor was looking at Steve, who was quiet until he realized the Doctor was looking at him,

“Doctor, you did say this travels in _time_ , right?”

“Yes…” The Doctor said, seeing where this was going,

“Can you, can you take me back?” He asked, “There was a girl… we were supposed to go dancing…”

“I’m sorry.” The Doctor said, “I’m so sorry, but you are a fixed point. I can’t change that. You’ll rip the universe apart.”

“Oh.” Steve looked at the ground.

“Would you like to write her a letter?”  
“What?” Steve looked up,

“I’ll come back in a week, write a note, and I’ll deliver it.”

One week later, as promised, the Doctor returned to the helipad. Steve was waiting. He handed the Doctor the note. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do.”

“No, Doctor, it’s really not. Thank you.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you.” The Doctor smiled as the doors of the TARDIS shut.

* * *

 

Peggy stared at her television set, waiting, begging for something to come out on Steve’s disappearance. She knew what had happened, but didn’t want to believe he was dead. She couldn’t believe he was dead. Without warning, there was an incredibly strange sound ringing from outside. Running out, she looked, gun drawn, and to her shock, she saw a large blue box that read Police Public Call Box. She had never seen anything like it in her life. Without warning, the doors banged open and a tall, skinny, spiky haired, man jumped out. She pointed her gun, “Who are you and what do you want?” The man rolled his eyes,

“Guns, everywhere I go in America, everyone points guns at me. I have a message for you.” She quirked an eyebrow, as he handed her a small note from his large overcoat. On it, was a familiar messy, yet bubbly handwriting. Her eyes widened, “I’m sorry I can’t do more for you.” The man said, turning around to return to his box,

“Wait!” Peggy called, the man turned back around, “Thank you.” The man smiled,

“Thank _you_.” Returning to his box, the noise began again, and to Peggy’s complete astoundment, the big blue box faded from existence before her vary eyes, as if it had never been there to begin with. Walking back inside, she sat down at the table and opened the letter with teary eyes;

_Dear Peggy,_

_I”m so sorry. I’m sorry because I’ll never get to have that dance with you. I’m sorry I’ll be late for our date. And I’m sorry because there was so much I wanted to tell you but never could. I want you to know that I’m fine. Or, I will be. I was trapped in Ice for seventy years. You may find it hard to believe, but I promise you it’s not. The man who gave you this letter, his name is the Doctor, and he’s the greatest hero this universe has ever seen. He can travel through time and space. I wanted him to take me back to you so maybe we could have finally had that dance. Maybe we could have gone on dates, get married, maybe have kids, if you wanted them. We could have grown old together. But my future’s a fixed point, and so is yours. It can’t be changed. But he said that means you’ve done such amazing things that history would never be the same without you, which doesn’t surprise me the smallest bit. He let me send this letter to you. Just this once. So I’m writing this letter, trying to condense all of my feelings for you into simple words, but it’s difficult because there are no words that could ever describe the way I feel about you. I love you, Peggy. I love you. And it’s more than that, I admire you. You didn’t need a serum to be brave and strong and amazing, you did it all on your own. You are fierce and smart and you would never let anyone put you down because you know you’re worth more than that. You gave me strength the serum never could. There are so many things I want to say about you, but I don’t have the words. None of them could do you justice._

_I wish I could show you the future, Peg. It’s amazing. Though I’ve yet to see any of those flying cars that Howard promised me, I’m not sad. But there is a bittersweet feeling to it. And, were I given the choice, I know I would come running home to you. A part of me wishes you had been with me, but then I remember that I was probably extremely lucky to have survived a deep-freeze like that. And I’m happy knowing that you lived a full, happy life rather than for me to wake up and find you had died beside me. I don’t think I could bear the thought of that. And don’t be afraid to move on from me, though I doubt you need my permission or anything. Don’t mourn me. I’m happy, and I want you to be happy to. So forget about me and live. The world is a big place full of lots of wonderful people. You won’t have any problem finding a dancing partner._

_Love,_

_Steve_


End file.
